Who doesn’t love Black love?! We do and we celebrate it with our “Put A Ring On It”series. Each week, we’ll feature YOUR engagement and wedding stories, romantic photos and even tips that’ll help other Beauties out on their Big Day. Check back each week for a new installment!

This week, we spoke with Kendra and Chris about falling in love with someone you’ve seen from a distance for months.

HER SIDE

It’s amazing how the very thing, or in my case, person, you’ve dreamed of can be right under your nose. I always noticed Chris sitting in the same section at church. I sing on the praise and worship team, so we see a lot of the folks that come in service while on stage. He would come, sing during praise and worship, listen to the message, and then disappear as soon as church was over. He was like a phantom. We spoke to one another in passing during meet-and-greet time, but not enough for me to even really know his name.

Although he had been coming to the church for a couple of years, no one knew who he was. A friend of mine started a singles’ ministry at church. The day of the inaugural meeting, I just happened to be outside as soon as church ended. I saw Chris briskly walking to his car and yelled out, “Hey, are you coming to singles’ meeting today? I don’t see a ring on your finger, so you’re single right?” He hesitantly said he would come and did. Our friendship grew from there. We kept our relationship light and fluffy. One day, I had a pot luck karaoke costume party. He came in a superman costume, brought a homemade chicken casserole big enough for an army and sang two songs. That was the day I realized that he had a lot of qualities I’ve been praying for; a man that loves God, has a great personality, gets along with people, good-looking AND CAN COOK! The list goes on and on so, I’ll just stop there. There was no way I was going to let this catch go!

HOW HE PULLED OFF THE SURPRISE OF A LIFETIME

A dream of mine has always been to sit court side at a basketball game. When the opportunity was presented to me for the February 12th Rocket’s game, of course, I jumped at it. Chris and I sat on the floor in our Rockets gear. The atmosphere was electric with the noise and lights and excitement of being so close to the players. During one of the breaks, the kiss cam man was standing in the section next to us. I couldn’t believe it. We might have a chance to be on the kiss cam. All of a sudden, the camera turned to us.

I turned to give Chris a kiss. This was our moment to be on camera and what does he do? He gets up to go and do God knows what. I was stunned and frustrated because he was messing up the moment. And then it happens. He gets down on one knee and whips out the ring box. I sit in shock looking at the ring for what seems to be forever. I always wanted to be with a man who loved me so much that he would shout it from the mountain top. Well, this was definitely my mountain top experience. I look up in the suite box directly across from where we were sitting and most of our close friends were there to experience this moment with us. He, along with my sister and the Rockets organization, made my dreams come true. Since Mom and Dad are the pastors of our church, my brother-in-law recorded it, sent it to our media team and the video was played at the end of the service for the congregation to watch that night. The icing on the cake was that the Rockets won by 1 point! It was a win for everyone that night.